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Local middle school student scores big

A Pansy Kidd Middle School student has made a name for himself academically and his hard work paid off with an early admittance to aquality university. Michael Womack, 13, of Poteau, completed the seventh grade in May. Before that accomplishment, he took the standard American College Test (ACT) and has since been recognized nationally for his scores. Michael took the test, as many high school students do, at CarlAlbert State College in December 2011. When he received his comprehensivescore of 22, he was also notified he was one of many students to be recognized by the Duke University Talent Identification Program. Duke TIP hosted Michael and several other students from Oklahoma during a recognition ceremony in Tulsa in May. “We are extremely proud of thisyear’s recognition ceremonies invitees,” said Martha Putallaz, PhD, executive director of Duke TIP and professor of psychology at Duke University. “As seventh graders, they have achieved exceptionally high scores on the ACT or SAT, rivaling those of half of collegebound seniors who took the tests.” Michael’s highest score in the individual classifications of testing was in reading in which he scored a 29. His lowest scores were in math and science but Michael has never taken algebra or chemistry and a large portion of the math and science testing revolves around those two areas. “The math was the hardest part of the test,” said Michael. “I couldn’t correctly answer the problems because I haven’t studied algebra.” According to Michael, he plans to attend college and obtain a law degree so he took the test to see what academic areas he needed to study to be prepared for college. Since his scores were recognized by Duke, he is already a step closer to succeeding. Michael is now an official student with Duke University and is currently taking an online course in Criminal Law and Justice in America.“I studied hard before I took the test,” said Michael. “I studied theACT prep guide at least an hour a day to be prepared.” When Michael isn’tstudying and completing course work with Duke University, he plays withhis brothers and sister. He also plays the trombone and likes to read.